Gillingham boss Martin Allen was proud of his side despite defeat at Preston North End in the FA Cup

01 December 2012

Deon Burton takes the game to Preston on
Saturday. Picture: Barry Goodwin

by Luke Cawdell

Martin Allen praised his side’s “superb”
showing after bouncing back from a sluggish start.

The Gills conceded twice in the first half but
made a real fight of it in the second, as Allen’s men went for
broke.

Boss Allen said: “We were a little slow coming
out in the first 10 minutes and then for the next 83 or four
minutes we were superb.

“We were more than comfortable going into
half-time 1-0 down, which I think we would have all said was okay.
We would have had plenty to build on, plenty to work on, but then
we conceded that (second) goal just before half- time.”

At 2-0 down Allen took off defenders Joe
Martin and Callum Davies, replacing them with attack-minded players
Charlie Lee and Chris Whelpdale.

“We said at half-time ‘let’s get at them’”,
said Allen.

“We didn’t go there to play defensively. We
went to attack. We weren’t playing 4-5-1 or on the counter attack,
we were playing all out, we went for it from the first minute.

“We were 2-0 down in the FA Cup. Some people
might say I was mad, some people say brave and if we had of scored
that penalty and won it, which I thought we would have done, then
you’re a genius. That’s how it works in this job.

“There were a few other chances we had and we
could have equalised in the first half, to make it 1-1, and it
would have been so, so different.

“They kept going right up until the end and we
had chances, corners and crosses going into the box and we just
were unable to get the goal that would have made a
difference.

“Sometimes these things happen but we were
playing a team from the division above and we’ve given a very good
account of ourselves.”